Firecracker: A Young Adult Fantasy (Arcturus Academy Book 1)

by A. L. Knorr

  His arms wrapped around my waist. My tummy filled with clouds of desire and my face felt blasted with heat from our mage-bond. As the door swung shut, the darkness of my room swallowed us like a blanket. The deep midnight blue of the night sky outside my window left a square of deep color against all the black in the room. Losing most of my vision brought all my senses to what was in my immediate space and under my hands, Gage. Eyes at half-mast, I ran my hands up his arms and gave back a kiss to match his, enjoying the feeling of taut muscles under my palms.

  I didn’t know what the punishment was if Gage and I were caught making out after hours in my room, but at this moment, I didn’t much care. It had been a crap day, a crap session with April, and if Gage wanted to cheer me up, I was all for it.

  Panting a little, Gage broke our kiss to run his lips across my jaw to under my ear. I tried to keep my breathing under control and failed. He’d never done anything so spontaneous and brazen. Kissing my hand in the cafeteria had been the most intimate thing we’d ever done up until now. My head swam with desire, mostly from pure surprise. His clean scent filled my nose, his solid weight and presence blocking out everything else. As I felt his fingers make contact with the skin at my waist and heat blossomed there, I wondered just how far he was hoping this would go. That thought was followed by another, like a bowling ball crashing through a dozen pins. How far was I hoping this would go?

  Gage pulled back and whispered in my ear. “That.”

  His breath was against my neck, leaving my skin sensitive with heat and pleasure. Then he moved away and opened my bedroom door, sending the amber light of the corridor sconces across the floor. He cast a beautiful silhouette, then closed my door and was gone, leaving me half falling down the wall as I struggled to catch my breath.

  Twenty-Two

  Baited

  Fire-power exploded in my hips as I leapt from the ground to the first balcony railing. Slow-burn turned the small joints of my fingers into death-grip hooks, and fire licked through my shoulders and back as I pulled myself up to stand with my feet between the spindles of wrought iron. Hands braced on the rail, I looked up to judge the distance to the balcony over my head. For anyone without fire, or some other supernatural ability, the next railing may well have been on the moon.

  The fire-gym echoed only with the sounds of my grunts. It was early morning, not yet seven-thirty. Students would soon be rolling out of bed and stumbling bleary-eyed into their bathrooms to get ready for another day. I’d go for another ten minutes then head back to my room.

  Memories of the kisses Gage and I had shared had woken me early, with a smile on my face. I half wondered as I lay there listening to the mourning doves if it had been a dream. But no, it had been real, and the memory of it had propelled me out of bed and fueled my entire morning workout.

  I coiled and sprang, detonating in my hips, knees and ankles. Catching the bottom of the next balcony, I used slow-burn to dangle there. My hold was so strong I thought I could actually cling there forever. I had to smile. It hadn’t been easy learning how to use explosive and sustained fire-power at the same time, kind of like patting your belly and rubbing your head simultaneously, but once I figured it out, it had become second nature.

  Swinging my body, I threw a foot up and hooked the edge. Pulling myself up after that was easy. Climbing up to position myself for the next leap required some self-talk about not looking down and keeping my breathing steady. I was harnessed, but I still didn’t want to fall. Banging off the balcony irons didn’t tickle, as I’d already learned.

  Holding my crouch, I released the edge of the balcony and my near unbreakable grip. Sending a little heat along my thighs and hips to straighten so I could gauge the distance to the next balcony, I looked up. Recoiling slightly, I internally detonated again. When it came time to test my climbing skills, I knew Basil wouldn’t just look at how well I could move up the wall, but how well I concealed and how efficiently I used my fire-power.

  He had started to allow me to practice climbing without a harness, but only once I’d learned to cushion drops from progressively higher jumps. I still wasn’t allowed to climb without safety gear when I was alone though.

  Basil had also arranged for me to bus to a gymnastics center in Dover to learn the acrobatic techniques I’d need, but I hadn’t yet mastered the art of springing out of a roll into a half-turn. The goal was to land back on the wall I’d just dropped from. I could manage to change direction and leap for the first balcony, but I often misjudged in my enthusiasm to get it right. Over-firing and coming down too awkwardly to stick the landing, I’d often ended in a panting heap at the bottom of the wall.

  Watching Basil demonstrate the skills he wanted me to master had become my inspiration during the day and fodder for dreams at night. Observing someone truly adept at combining all skills at once was awe-inspiring. As far as I was concerned, Basil was an artisan. He’d shown me how to climb at mind-numbing speed, drop from heights that would kill a natural, and jump high enough to land halfway up a climbing wall and cling to it like a fly. He’d taught me how to execute sharp turns and sudden changes of direction, and how to walk on my hands across narrow, uneven beams.

  I left every skills class smelling like smoke and beaming from my eyeballs from the pure joy of it. I had a long way to go, but I’d also come a long way since Venice when I’d wondered if the fire wanted me dead.

  Cresting the top of the wall, I pivoted and dropped without hesitation, making sure my harness wires weren’t tangled. Firing just before impact, the detonations in all of my major joints cushioned my landing and sent me into a forward roll. As the ground came under my feet, I fired again, but this time on angles within my hip sockets and knee joints to turn back toward the wall in mid-air. The harness cables zipped through their pulleys, tightening, loosening and rotating as required. Arms and hands outstretched, fingers splayed and smoking, I grasped the base of the balcony. Swinging into the wall, I tucked my legs up and landed with the soles of my feet against the backboard.

  “Impressive.”

  My heart gave a lurch and I let out a shriek, mis-detonating and relaxing the grip in my fingers. I dropped to the ground, firing just fast enough to cushion my landing before the harness did. I lifted my eyes to see Ryan crossing the floor toward me. He wore a pair of shorts and a tight athletic top with long sleeves. Sweat ringed the fabric at his neck and armpits.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked, cursing myself for my forgetfulness. The door’s self-locking mechanism only engaged when the setting had been activated. I’d neglected to check its status when I came in, distracted by delicious thoughts of Gage.

  “I should ask you the same question.” Ryan’s gaze roved up and down my body, taking in my frizzy ponytail and dirty bare feet. His attention wandered behind me to the climbing wall as he cocked his hands on his hips. Sweat glistened on his forehead.

  “I’m training. What does it look like?” Straightening, I picked up one foot and held it behind me, stretching out a thigh. My heart bounced along like a startled deer. Had he seen me do anything that might make him suspicious? I hadn’t spent much time observing other students. I didn’t know anymore how much further ahead of them I was.

  “Headmaster Chaplin gave me permission to train alone during off-hours.” I explained, even as my mind screamed shut up, shut up, shut up, you don’t need to justify yourself to him, you only sound guilty. I switched feet to stretch the other quad, more because I felt like I needed to move or I’d just stand there looking sheepish. “The keyword in private coaching is private.”

  “Go on then.” He wiped the sweat of his forehead and raked his hand across his flat belly. His upper lip curled a little. “Inspire me. I was out for a morning run and thought I heard something as I passed by the doors. I need to do some stretching anyway, so just pretend like I’m not here.”

  He sauntered from the climbing walls over to the tumbling floor where a space had been taped out for stretching.

  “
I’m finished,” I replied flatly, crossing to where I’d left my shoes, water bottle and a sweatshirt on the floor.

  He sprinted over and snatched my sweatshirt out of my grip before I could even register what he was doing. Then he danced backward, pulling my sweater over his head.

  I rolled my eyes. “You’re such a child.”

  Shimmying my top down over his torso, the seams in the shoulders popped.

  “You’re wrecking my clothes, numb-nuts. Give it back.”

  “Come and get it, Queen Cagney.” He leapt backward, firing in his legs and hips so that he flew through the air out of my reach. He landed in a graceful crouch, resting his fingers against the floor like a sprinter at the starting line.

  “I’m not playing this game, whatever this game is.” I turned away, hefting my bag. What did I care about an old hoody that permanently smelled like smoke? It was annoying but I wouldn’t be baited. Anger simmered in my gut as I headed for the doors. He’d ruined my practice session but it was my own fault. I’d never forget to check the security panel again, kisses or no kisses.

  Ryan appeared in front of me like he’d materialized out of the air. He ripped off my sweatshirt and threw it at me, sneering. “You don’t know how to take a joke.”

  “The default excuse of bullies worldwide,” I snapped as I caught my sweater. “An organization of which you could be the president.”

  Frustration and suspicions roiling like a caustic brew, I took a step closer. Our eyes clashed like swords. “What’s wrong with you? Why do you always have to make trouble?”

  He pulled an innocent face. “What are you talking about?”

  I scoffed and moved for the door again. “Out of my way, Wendig. You’ll make me late for breakfast.”

  “You wouldn’t be referring to my budding relationship with April Brown, your little protégé?”

  My jaw went slack as I spun. Why had he brought her up? I hadn’t mentioned her, hadn’t even been thinking of her in particular, I’d been referring to his general ability to be seditious. I glared at him, protectiveness swelling in my chest like a helium balloon with a big angry face on it.

  “Look who is on who’s mind. Whatever you’re doing with her, can it. I mean it. Stay away from April. We both know you couldn’t possibly be interested in her for romantic reasons, so just back off.”

  His eyes widened a fraction before a slow, nasty smile spread across his face. He shoved his hands into the back pockets of his shorts and swung forward and backward like a Charlie Chaplin impersonator. It was a weird movement for him.

  “I knew it,” he said with a dramatic sigh. “You’re jealous of the attention I’ve been paying her, of how much fun we have together. Shame on you. You felt the bond we share and think we belong together. Face it, you yearn for me in the night.”

  I snorted a laugh of outrage and disbelief. “Ha! You wish. Your head is so big it’s a wonder you can stand upright.”

  “But you are right.” He purred as though I hadn’t just insulted him. “I am out of the hopeless Brown girl’s league, but I’m surprised you would admit it out loud. Some friend you are. You’d better hope I don’t repeat what you’ve said, she admires you. It would be so sad to see her disillusioned.” He made a series of tsking sounds, shaking his head.

  “What?” I sputtered at how he’d twisted everything. My hands tightened into fists but I slid past him. “Don’t put words in my mouth. Psychopath.”

  Ryan’s eyes flashed red as he grabbed my arm, his grip painfully tight. He yanked me close, his lips next to my ear. Words slipped through his teeth without any vocalization, coming out on air. In spite of that he was chillingly audible.

  “When I’m through with your little friend, she’ll leave Arcturus, the first in a long line of unworthy students.”

  The hair on my arms stood up as goosebumps of horror swept across my body. I stared at him as a tidal wave of emotion crashed through me. Part of me was convinced I’d misheard.

  “What did you say?” I croaked.

  His lips peeled back from his teeth, but he still only whispered. “I’m doing her a favor. She doesn’t belong here. You know it, I know it, the headmaster knows it.”

  I tried to wrench my arm away. His fingers clamped down harder.

  Pain lit through my elbow and upper arm, pushing me over the edge. Bringing my other hand up fast against his sternum, I detonated in my shoulder, arm and back while shoving him away from me.

  Ryan flew through the air like an explosion had gone off in his face, landing on his back on the mats with a whooshing exhale. He lifted his head as he put a hand against his chest and actually smiled, even though I’d winded him.

  I strode to where he lay, curling up my fists, my gaze hot and hard and glowing like lanterns. I could feel the stems of my eyes like lines of molten metal slicing clean through my skull.

  “Stay away from her,” I seethed.

  “What’s going on here?”

  Whirling as my heart turned over, I saw Jade, Kendall, and Gage in the doorway of the gym. They took in the scene, Ryan gasping for air on the ground at my feet and me standing over him with my fists clenched and face lit with rage.

  I took in a breath and forced my fingers to relax. Turning away from them to look down at Ryan, I offered a hand to help him up.

  Ryan made the sucking, choking sounds of someone struggling for breath. His smile was gone. His face had morphed into a mask of pain and fear. He rolled onto his front and army-crawled to get away from me, leaving me gaping and dumbfounded.

  Gage and Kendall were at Ryan’s side in an instant.

  Gage put a hand on Ryan’s shoulder, he didn’t, or wouldn’t, look at me. “Breathe, Ryan. Just relax. You’re okay. Breathe, buddy.”

  Ryan closed his eyes and put a hand out for his twin. His fingers trembled.

  “Oh, please.” I rolled my eyes. “He’s taking you for a fool. He’s fine.”

  Gage looked up then, and the chill and disappointment in his expression made me take an involuntary step backward. It was as though there had never been any intimacy between us, ever. It was the look of a stranger.

  “What did you do to him?” he asked in a voice I hardly recognized.

  “I’ll fetch the headmaster.” Jade left the fire-gym at a sprint.

  “She punched me in the throat,” Ryan wheezed, putting a quivering hand up to his neck to massage it back and forth.

  “I did not punch him in the throat.” Panic took off in my stomach like a screaming flock of ravens. “I only pushed him.”

  “We all know you’re a prodigy, Saxony,” Kendall said as he and Gage got under Ryan’s arms and helped him to his feet. “You don’t have to beat anyone up to prove it.”

  Ryan sagged between the boys, making dramatic sucking sounds, like his lungs had collapsed.

  “That’s not what happened here.” I followed behind as Gage and Kendall dragged a limp Ryan toward the door. “He baited me, he threatened April.”

  “She’s just jealous,” Ryan croaked, followed by a harsh intake of breath.

  “Don’t talk.” Gage’s voice was soft and comforting. “Can you stand up? We should get you to Dr. Price.”

  My mind whirled like a funnel cloud. I put a hand on Gage’s shoulder. “Why are you so eager to believe him and not me?”

  He shook my hand off, a little tic making his right eye twitch as he leveled me with another glare. “I come into the gym to see you standing over him as he struggles for breath on the floor. I heard you say ‘stay away from her’. He says you’re jealous and that’s what it sounded like. What do you think my own eyes and ears are telling me?”

  Gage looked more like his twin than ever as his eyes flashed and his words echoed around the gym. My tongue turned to lead in my mouth as I realized how disgusted he was with me. I felt like I was the one who’d been properly winded, or maybe more like my heart had been raked with a fork.

  “But—” Words failed me as the true cost of what had happened here
began to sink in. Gage helped me out by expounding the case as he knew it to be.

  “My brother is the top of the class in skills and combat,” he said over the top of Ryan’s sagging head. “By rights he should be classified as a second-degree mage. He might not be your equal but he’s not so far behind you that he can’t hold his own. If any student is able to put him down, it would only be through excessive force.”

  Jade arrived at the door in time to hold it open for the three boys. Her chest heaved as she shot me a triumphant look that displayed just how fast she’d sprinted to Basil and just how much pleasure she was taking in the unfolding destruction of my name and reputation.

  “Headmaster says to come to his office.” Her eyes glimmered. “You’ll get a permanent suspension from the academy for this and no mistake.”

  Her words hit me like slaps of cold water and I stood frozen at the door while they shuffled away, Ryan limping between them.

  Twenty-Three

  He Says, She Says

  As the four of us marched toward Basil’s office, students and professors on their way to the cafeteria for breakfast stepped to the side, curiosity and concern painting every face.

  Ryan made sure to wheeze in and out and keep his arms locked around Gage and Kendall’s necks so he could drag the toes of his shoes across the carpet and bump them against every step as we climbed the staircase. He threw his weight from side to side, and—not being light—slammed Kendall against the wall more than once, knocking a painting and sending me running down the stairs to catch it before it hit the marble at the bottom. I failed.